PRESS RELEASE FROM: The Avon Free Public Library

Contact: Kari Ann St. Jean Date: January 30, 2018

Phone: 860-673-9712 x 209

The Amazing Castle™ Comes to Avon Library

The Avon Free Public Library is pleased to announce the arrival of The Amazing Castle™ – a magical place where visitors can become inhabitants of a castle village! Created by the Minnesota Children’s Museum and making its first appearance in Connecticut, families and children can learn community values while playing in this interactive exhibit.

The free exhibit will be open 10 a.m.- 8 p.m. Mondays, Tuesday, and Thursdays; Wednesdays from 10 a.m. – 5:30 p.m.; Fridays and Saturdays; 10 a.m.- 4:30 p.m., and Sundays from 1 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. through April.

“Bringing this exhibit to Avon gives families the opportunity to experience something unique, imaginative and creative in a library setting,” Children’s and Teen Services Manager Kari Ann St. Jean said.

The exhibit features eight themed areas where children can don costumes and engage in role-playing by becoming lords and ladies, villagers and even a court jester. Visitors can try their hands in royal workshops where a blacksmith, tailor, gardener, cook and others work and visit a tower where a sleeping dragon resides.

Upon entering the castle, visitors will find graphic panels that introduce Lord Ben and Lady Evolent and the castle community. A large book that tells the castle’s story is nearby for visitors to read.

Children can play with a castle-inspired dollhouse and build their own fortress out of “stone” blocks. Friends and family can take a seat at the royal table in the Great Hall while children prepare a meal using food from the royal pantry and garden. Then they can become castle entertainers in the royal puppet theater and dress up in costumes to model in a distorted mirror. Before leaving the library, children can try to wake Herald the Dragon. If successful, Herald will greet visitors before falling back asleep.

The Amazing Castle™ exhibit was created by the Minnesota Children’s Museum with funding from Curtis and Marjorie Nelson and The Curtis L. Carlson Family Foundation. It’s appearance at Avon Library is sponsored by the Friends of the Avon Library and Carmon Funeral Home with special thanks to the Town of Avon Public Works Department.

For further information, please contact Kari Ann St. Jean on 860-673-9712 or log onto www.avonctlibrary.info